CM Revanth Reddy orders officials to recover dues from rice millers
Formulation of guidelines for the recovery of dues
Construction of silo bags for paddy storage in five constituencies
CM Revanth Reddy reviews the Civil Supplies Department
Hyderabad, August 12: Telangana Government cracked down on rice millers for defaulting on Custom Milled Rice (CMR) targets. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy ordered the officials to intensify the recovery of the full dues owed by the millers.
Stating that the government adopted a cooperative approach towards millers who operate with a genuine business mindset, the Chief Minister warned that it would deal sternly with those who deliberately attempt to evade payments. The CM, along with Civil Supplies Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy, held a review of the department’s performance at the MCRHRD institute on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister accused the previous government of indulging in irregularities in collecting dues from the millers, which caused the accumulation of the dues in thousands of crores. The CM took strong exception to the opposition parties for blaming the present government for the recovery of mounting dues from the rice millers.
When the official briefed on the progress in recovering the dues, CM Revanth Reddy insisted that the value of every single grain must be recovered. Further, the Chief Minister instructed officials to formulate specific guidelines for a process to recover the dues and submit the report to the Cabinet Sub-Committee. The State government would take an appropriate decision following the Cabinet Sub-Committee’s review, the CM said, announcing that the paddy previously allocated to millers who have become defaulters would instead be allocated to women’s groups and the milling responsibilities would be entrusted to them.
Noting the recurring difficulties in storing paddy stocks each season, CM Revanth Reddy instructed officials to formulate an action plan immediately. A pilot project for constructing silo bags would be taken up in districts with high paddy yields- Nalgonda, Suryapet, Nizamabad, Peddapalli, and Kamareddy.
The Chief Minister also announced that 50 to 100 acres of land per constituency would be allocated for these silo bag facilities, to be managed by Self-Help Groups (SHGs). A meeting would be convened with the Ministers of Revenue, Civil Supplies, and Women’s Welfare to discuss the construction of these facilities. The CM suggested exploring the possibility of the construction of spacious platforms under the VBG- Ram G scheme and using German tents for paddy storage in the available space. The officials were also instructed to identify private warehouses, function halls, old cinema theatres, and other sheds at the mandal and village levels in advance and lease them for paddy storage.
Principal Secretary to the CM V. Seshadri, Civil Supplies Commissioner Stephen Ravindra, South India Rice Millers Association President Thudi Devender Reddy and others were present.